Bye-Bye Advertising

Last week I quit my advertising job. 5 years of agency life as a digital art director and, all of a sudden, advertising stopped being fun. Office mornings drenched in coffee and endless FWA surfing, 3 px corner radius on buttons and browsing web fonts – it all felt a bit trite.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the web. I still enjoy long brainstorming sessions and deadline-induced, caffeine-fueled guerrilla problem solving showdowns. I still love my quirky, pun-obsessed, male-purse wearing co-workers. What I stopped loving is advertising. And I figured this out just like that, on a Wednesday morning.

I’m a bit tired of swimming against the stream and suffocating in the claustrophobic 500x500px canvas of Facebook posts. I’m tired of using the same piss-yellow that the brand manager of some cheap beer seems to be fixated on. Yes, I want to be egotistical and self indulgent, in my own colors, on my own canvas.

Sketching the Path

I’ve always loved drawing and I’ve been involved in creative endeavors ever since I can remember, be it concept art for indie games (that, of course, never saw the light of day), advertising illustrations or photo manipulations. So, while holding on to the stylus with all my might, I signed my resignation and started sketching a path for myself… on a graphic tablet.
So bye-bye advertising, I quit! Hello world, I’m here to stay :)

Since you, my dear reader, are here – in Arid Glamor, reading this, you are obviously interested in drawing/painting/visual storytelling. As the old saying goes, we all tend to enjoy what we do best – some say that’s a “calling”. So how did it work out for you? Is drawing/painting your hobby or your full-time occupation?